Arrowsmith, Henry, William & Arthur (late Henderson); H. & A. Arrowsmith; A. J. Arrowsmith & Co. (1838-1883)
Arrowsmith, Henry, William & Arthur (late Henderson); H. & A. Arrowsmith; A. J. Arrowsmith & Co.
London; upholders, carvers and gilders, cabinet & couch makers, parquet flooring manufacturers (fl.1838–83)
Henry, William & Arthur Arrowsmith were recorded as upholders, carvers & gilders at 113 St Martin's Lane in 1838 but by the next year had moved to 80 New Bond Street. They published in 1840 The House Decorator and Painter's Guide. Business continued after 1840, and in the Royal Accounts (1846–51), they are described as ‘Decorators to Her Majesty’.
Tallis's London Street Views (1838-40) has an illustration of the street façade of the firm's premises (illus. Kirkham Furniture History (1988), p. 208, fig. 33). H. & A. Arrowsmith exhibited a zebrawood cabinet with painted panels representing ‘Woman’s History’ at the New York Exhibition, 1853 (illus. Meyer (2006), p. 84). By 1865 the firm was called A. J. & Co. Arrowsmith, still at 80 New Bond Street, when they exhibited their solid parquet floors, altar floors, borders and panelling of doors etc. at the Dublin International Exhibition (Section XXVI, exh. 711).
A. J. Arrowsmith & Co., cabinet makers & couch makers of New Bond Street, were listed in The Furniture Gazette directories from 1876 onwards and were awarded a prize at the Sydney International Exhibition, 1879 [The Furniture Gazette, 19 June 1880]. The following year the firm was awarded a first class order for its parquet flooring and art furniture at the Melbourne International Exhibition [The Furniture Gazette, 11 December 1880, 16 & 30 April 1881]. Although their prices were deemed too high for the colonial buyers, Arrowsmith supplied the new solid parquet floor for the Council Chamber of the new Town Hall, Sydney [The Furniture Gazette, 11 October 1884]. The flooring was also exhibited in the museum section of the new building for the Leeds & Yorkshire Architectural Society, Albion Street, Leeds [The Furniture Gazette, 8 September 1883].
Sources: DEFM; The Official Catalogue of the Dublin International Exhibition, 1865; Kirkham ‘The London Furniture Trade 1700-1840’, Furniture History (1988); Meyer, Great Exhibitions. London, New York, Paris, Philadelphia. 1851-1900 (2006).
Material
Ornamentation/Design